It’s great to be back with the Common Sense community after a very restful break. I hope you managed to spend some time with those close to you and that this first missive finds you refreshed and ready for an exciting year.

I always love a New Year. It presents an opportunity to clear the decks and change tack if necessary. Many people make resolutions that rarely see the distance but it’s still a worthwhile endeavour to acknowledge areas where we can improve ourselves, our relationships or our work.

Common sense has been in short supply and politics has become an even bigger circus. Through it all, I’ve done my best to keep you up to date every Wednesday.

The Weekly Dose of Common Sense email and podcast reach tens of thousands of people who enjoy (or are infuriated) by my perspective on what’s going on in the world. I love bringing them to you and am heartened that so many enjoy them.

It can be hard to comprehend the thought processes of the contemporary ‘activist’. They use neither logic nor reason in their proclamations. Facts don’t matter and words can mean whatever they want them to. So blithely unconcerned are they with the consequences of their demands that they have become dangerous fantasists; a collective of Walter Mitty characters whose dreams are unpunctuated by reality.

We saw elements of their absurdity on the final day in the Senate. A naïve and irresponsible crossbench teamed up with Labor and the Greens to begin to dismantle Australia’s border protection laws.

Being stuck in the Canberra bubble and seeing how dysfunctional our political system has become, generates equal measures of disappointment and despair.

I am disappointed because the political class is failing the very people they are elected to represent. Interminable petty point-scoring passes as an excuse for political debate. Identity politics and whining victimhood statements are the primary discussion and meanwhile, Australia’s way of life goes down the gurgler.

Avowed socialists have won a whopping majority in Victoria thanks to weak opposition and the Federal government is listing badly after a defection because of ‘bullying’ and ‘sexism’.

I have heard such words before and they are usually the refuge of those who haven’t a credible case to mount. It’s no coincidence that they are also usually used by those who don’t get what they want and so they then start to embrace and repeat the slurs of the intellectually bereft left.

An interesting thing happened to me last week. I was effectively refused service by a business because of my conservative beliefs. I am okay with that because I believe that everyprivatebusiness has a right to choose who they want as a customer.

Perhaps the business is worried that an association with a brand diametrically opposed to their own would be negative for them. It may be that they are having to choose between one client and another. To me, it really doesn’t matter what the reason, a private business is free to choose who they want to provide services for and theconditions surrounding the provision of those services.

Last week I attended a free speech forum in Queensland. It was organised by a group of young people who are committed to celebrating and defending our freedoms lest they be lost to them and future generations.

The group began to host liberty events in Townsville and are now expanding across Queensland. I hope their movement catches on and is embraced across the land.

Their cause is shared by many but their real message to me that night was one of hope.

One stereotypical movie scene features an horrific murder or terrible accident, with crowds of onlookers seeking a glimpse of the macabre and a hapless police officer ushering them on whilst repeating “Nothing to see here. Move along”

It’s a scene that we see played out by politicians seeking to hide their lack of insight or cover their shortcomings all too often. In recent times the routine has largely been played out in reference to China.

No matter how they try to spin it, the result of the by-election in Wentworth was a disaster for the Coalition. It was a record swing against a government and suggests they will get absolutely smashed at the next federal election.

That’s not good for the country or for the future of the Liberal Party. It also highlights just how important the decision of the Australian Conservatives to focus on building a strong Senate team is at the next Election.